On Thursday, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a cloture resolution on the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as secretary of defense, with 58 in favor and 40 against ending debate on the matter, with one senator voting "present." A 60-vote majority is required to end debate before the nomination can proceed to a simple majority vote, and it appears the Senate is going to come up short.

Hagel's nomination was approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week in a 14-11 party line vote.

Although Hagel came under fire for remarks he made about Israel  specifically the "Jewish lobby"  during his confirmation hearing, Senate Republicans appear to have switched their rationale for opposing their former colleague. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been one of Hagel's most outspoken opponents, and this week said that regarding the nominations of Hagel for defense and John Brennan for director of national intelligence, there would be "no confirmation without information" regarding last September's deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The threat comes despite the fact that Hagel had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack, or was even employed by the U.S. government at the time.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) slammed his GOP counterparts earlier in the day. This isnt high school getting ready for a football game or some play thats being produced at high school, Reid said. Were trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country, the military of our country.

Reid also acknowledged that the Democrats do not have the necessary 60 votes at this time. There are 53 Democrats in the Senate, plus two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Today's failure to reach 60 votes doesn't mean Hagel's nomination is finished. The Senate will reportedly try again after the Presidents' Day recess  perhaps as late as a week from Tuesday, according to Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in his floor speech on the nomination.

All GOP speakers said it isn’t filibuster, not just Alexander. And, unfortunately, it isn’t. It’s meant to DELAY the vote until more info is forthcoming. I say unfortunately...we could only wish they would stop Hagel’s nomination, period.

Reid is lying and knows it.

But that’s Harry...it’s who he is.

This parenthesis after the headline that calls it a filibuster is exactly what Reid wants. He wants media headlines to scream “filibuster!” because that’s spun as a bad word.

Please understand, if it really was a filibuster I would say call it that. And it wouldn’t bother me one bit to use the word. Perfectly good word, but has a bad rap.

One caveat, IF more info arises that is scandalous enough against Hagel, the GOP could still choose to ACTUALLY filibuster and stop this insane nomination.

But if what we already know isn’t enough against him, color me doubtful that even worse would stop him.

Actually, McCain announced against Hagel as did some other RINOS such as Graham. They are going to give Obama his up or down vote on Hagel, while voting no. However, if McCain says it will ultimately pass, then he knows that certain GOP WILL join the lockstep Dems and vote yes.

The Rats are just playing with the Stupid party people. All of this is to showcase that the Stupid party are eating their own and can’t be trusted with even confirming one of their own. This is why Hagel was nominated in the first place.
The Stupid Party people are too dumb to see this.
It’s all a game to make the Stupid party look bad and it is succeeding in the public’s eye.

Great, now why couldn’t they have done that to John “I was a war criminal” Kerry? Hagel had no business being nominated but it seems a big coincidence to me that the only person they had the balls to oppose was an ex republican.

McLame was on Cavuto predicting Hagel would be confirmed just minutes before this vote. Hes such a loser!
********
Juan McLame may yet be proven right as Republicans will likely fold like a cheap lawn chair after they return from recess. Leaving town was like the proverbial “shot of courage” that enabled them to look tough for the moment. After recess, the The Stupid Party will revert back to its normal supine posture.

Hagel is that bad but what difference does it really make(aka Hillary). All the people the jackass nominates are going to be bad. Keep holding,delaying and stalling as long as possible but we need to start winning elections

Yup, how many times have we seen THIS play before?They're just waiting until the nightly spin cycle is over; folks settled in after chow, all lethargic. The pol's will have their way, it's just hard work for the babies trying to keep up the charade.

I hear Karl is over at a K street mixer planning the demise of the TEA Party, THAT is where REAL bi-partisan support is needed right now...not these silly little games in the Senate...

According to the fifth-column WaPost rag, it was Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) who stood firm from the beginning. Without Cruz’s substantiated demand that Hagel had not provided sufficient information, the GOP eunuchs would have folded like a wet washrag.

This isnt high school getting ready for a football game or some play thats being produced at high school, Reid said. Were trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country, the military of our country.

Shut up and pass a budget, Reid. For a change.

44
posted on 02/14/2013 6:27:02 PM PST
by Colonel_Flagg
("Don't be afraid to see what you see." -- Ronald Reagan)

No,of course not. The Senate is going out for a short recess and when they get back, Reid will be resurrecting this. I believe that eventually he's going to be the SOD, whether we like it or not. The only thing in doubt is how much truth about Benghazi we can squeeze out of Obama before enough Republicans cave in and vote for cloture.

The Democrats will probably yank Hagel at this point, and replace him with somebody even worse.

I doubt it. Like I said, Reid will resurrect this one after the short recess. They only have about 54 votes for confirmation on Hagel (meaning that if they can get this cloture vote passed, they'll get confirmation -- barely). But if they substitute someone who's substantially worse, they won't even get 50 votes.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.